The War of Dinosaur Island
by Don Mufasa
Summary: Bowser has brought his armies to conquer a new land, but the people of Dinosaur island are not pawns. They fight and struggle to save their home, but the battle seems to be turning against them. At the center of this conflict, a mysterious human child from an unknown land...can Mario save the island, Peach, and help the strange little boy find his way home?


**Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Mario Franchise, which is a property of Nintendo. Any and all characters from the game are the property of their rightful creators and Nintendo. Any characters or other elements not included in the original game or present in any other existing franchise are my own creation.**

_**This is pilot story for my Super Mario World fanfic concept: The War of Dinosaur island. This takes place in the middle of the story, as Mario leads the cause of the Yoshis and other inhabitants of the island whom I'd thought up. Bowser's forces have invaded all over the island with troops everywhere, and because of the scale of the conflict Mario isn't the only one fighting back. In future episodes you'll see other groups and pockets of resistance fighting back and aiding Mario in his journey to take the battle to Bowser himself. In addition to all this, there is a human child involved in all this who seems to have some sort of special purpose.**_

_**Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated: corrections, suggestions, input, anything. This is more to test the waters and flesh out my writing more than anything, and the concept is also feeling quite solid. Expect a lot of additions! The more input, the faster I can get this rolling. I hope you enjoy my rendition of Super Mario World!**_

The War of Dinosaur Island: Pilot

Mario was hanging over the edge of the platform, gripping for dear life. His strength was ebbing, but he had to make it over, or else fall to his death. Gritting his teeth, he summoned all his strength and pulled himself atop the giant mushroom. He sat and the caught his breath, but choked back his horror as he heard the yoshi cry out as he fell to his doom below. His companion had sacrificed himself for the hero, flipping forward and launching the hero off of his back when it became clear they weren't going to make the jump.

Mario rolled onto his back and pounded the surface with his fist. This was his battle, as it had always been, no one needed to die. _Why had he sacrificed himself for me?_ He thought. _We could have figured something out, maybe fluttered until we found a better place to land..._ but in his mind he knew why. He felt the surface beneath him, slightly warm, flat, and quite hard. These were the tallest mushrooms, and their towering surfaces were the only way across to Bowser's next fortress. There lay not only more of the imprisoned yoshi populace, but also a small human child who had been kidnapped.

Mario opened his eyes, his breathing a little less labored, and stared into the blue sky. In all his life he had only met very few humans; real humans of his and Luigi's kind, not the impish toads of the Mushroom lands. This child was like them and Peach, but even so there was something special about him, something that changed everything. He remembered the look of shock and admiration when the child had met Mario, how he hugged him and called him his hero. He remembered how the child looked on with wonder on everything on the island. The child said he had never been there before yet called everything by name—even Mario's enemies. More than anything there was something other-worldy about the little boy, and this feeling coming to a man that had seen more strange things than you could shake a Fire Flower at!

"I must save him, as well as Peach." Mario gasped. "I must...help him...find his home..."

Then he heard a screeching noise. He immediately rolled to the side as a something came crashing past—breaking a scar into the surface of the mushroom as it passed before exploding off the edge.

"Bullet Bills..." Mario scowled. He hated those things, but he never ceased to admire their strength—these mushrooms were as strong as concrete!

He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran forward, jumping over the next as it shot towards him. They used to terrify him when he had first dared to quest for the princess's freedom, but after the last few journeys he'd mastered the timing needed to overcome them. So it was that he raced to the other side of the mushroom and continued across the others, jumping, ducking, and dodging around the fearsome foes along the way.

"Butter Bridge will never look the same after this." Mario mused. He squinted, things had become foggy in various spots at the height he was. There were a lot of openings in the mist where he could see, but there were thick blotches that concealed spots. He also noticed that many bullet bills where appearing from within them...

_That, looks incredibly suspcious..._ He thought, looking ahead. Before him were many more blotches lining a clean path of mushrooms relatively close together, and leading straight. He had other options to move forward, but this would be the easiest, and after what he'd been through today, he knew he wouldn't have the stamina for the roundabout route.

He decided to chance it.

Taking in a deep breath, Mario ran forward. He was famed far and wide for his jump, but he was actually a better runner than anything. His prodigious stamina meant he could keep his same quick pace for long periods—long enough to evade these Bill traps. Just as he predicted, four Bills quickly rushed out whenever he came close to the fog spots, destroying the mushroom platform as Mario ran past. It seemed to be a piece of cake, until he heard a loud _**boom!**_ And looked behind himself. Flying slowly, but quickly barreling up speed behing him, was an enormous Banzai Bill—twice the size of the usual! A battery of Lakitus had flown in behind in secret with a huge cannon to launch him.

He picked up speed and kept going, hoping to make to the end of the bridge before it could reach him, only to be shocked and horrified; another cannon was being lowered at the end, and the Banzai was already poking out. It's cold, black eyes eyed him hungrily, and Mario could make out the sharp edges of its teeth, grinning in anticipation. Then it fired, moving slowly, but quickly picking up speed. Mario looked behind again; the first Banzai was still en route, and moving even faster, all while the smaller Bills kept crashing behind Mario, destroying the path behind him for good measure. Some even hit the Banzai, but it just hurried forward completely unfazed and grinning sharper every time. Then he looked forward and saw a gap in between two of the mushroom surfaces ahead, just about where the two Banzais would meet.

Mario was horrified. The Bullet Bills weren't there to stop him, they were a distraction, and a fail-safe against his escape, destroying the path ahead and behind, and drawing his watchful eyes long enough for the Banzai's to be launched and sandwich him in death. Ironically, his only way out would be to simply fall. After that yoshi's brave sacrifice, it seems Mario would meet the same fate after all.

But then, it seemed a miracle had arrived. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a winged "?" block flutter towards the breach. It wouldn't support his weight, but maybe, just maybe...he could find something within it that could help him escape. Something, anything to get him out of this.

Mario ran even faster than ever, and the Banzais seemed to pick up speed to make sure they caught him. If he timed this just right, he may be able to grab the block and fall below just before the Banzai's meet, making them destroy each other. He was mere steps away now—closer, closer, closer...and he jumped. Well, more dived, off to the side and reaching out as far as he could. The block fluttered away for a second, but he caught hold of its wing and drug it down with him as he fell. His off-center jump had thrown off the Banzais a little, forcing them to turn their trajectory, and they crashed into each other above him with a deafening blast.

The force sped his fall for a moment, and the flames burned his clothing. Mario fell for a minute, cradling the block in his arms for dear life. He opened his eyes, and saw the world tumble around himself in silence—he could hear nothing but an eerie ringing in his ears as the land and sky spun around his sight. He managed to right himself into flat-falling position, belly down, with the block under him so he could catch whatever came out. _This is it_ he thought. _Whatever comes out of this box will determine whether I live or die._ He chuckled to himself-not much had changed in his life. He clenched his fist and struck the box.

_YES!_ He thought. Out came a white and orange feather, quickly fluttering before Mario caught it in his mouth. If there were ever anyone who loved him more than Peach, it was Lady Luck. Mario bit down on the feather, making it glow and disappear, just before a magnificent yellow cape suddenly draped his shoulders. Looking straight down, Mario saw the great stalk of the Mushroom below him, towering up from the ground. Tucking in his legs Mario rolled into a few backflips to get closer, then quickly hooked the cape around his legs to slow his fall. Then, kicking free he began to run down the surface of the stalk.

Faster, faster, faster he went. He didn't know how he could handle such speed, but he would need it all to return to the skies. The faster he ran, the higher he could fly. Besides, the magical properties of the cape demanded that he launch from some surface to harness the winds and rise. Just as he was beginning to lose grip on the stalk he jumped off, and curved into a sharp turn upward, the cape bending the air around him to make him rise. Mario spiraled helix-style as he rose, higher and higher as lines of Bullet Bills shot all around him, but to no avail. The cape made him faster and more graceful than they could ever hope to be.

He was awestruck by the sights: the world turned around him as the mushrooms lowered around him, their towering stalks seeming to shrink; the bills rushing around him in lines and droves, their struggle together almost like a dance in the sky; and then the light of the sun as it began to peek from behind a cloud, warming him with its rays. Everything seemed to bow around him, powerless to stop his advance—when it came to the cape, truly, the sky was the only limit. And for a moment, he wondered if this was what it was like to be Peach on her happiest days.

Mario righted himself into a horizontal position again, the cape magically snapping around his feet; he remembered his mission once more. Now he could glide and bob through the air liesurely to his destination. He looked down at the devastation that was the Butter Bridge: the original had been destroyed by Bowser's henchmen and their malicious saw machines, and the backup, the natural bridge of mushroom platforms had been half-way annihilated by the Bills and Banzais. Huge structures of bridge and pieces of giant mushroom alike lay in ruins at the lowlands below. Even if anyone had survived the fall, they were stranded—there was no way around from there to the summit of the mountain, or the Forest of Illusion for that matter. Luigi too had fallen, but luckily back at the section above Soda Lake.

He looked down and back towards the bubbly lake, frothing with sweet waters that emptied into the Great Bay of Dinosaur Island.

"Please be safe, my brother." Mario whispered to himself. He still couldn't hear, but he could still see. Before him loomed Cookie Mountain—tall, steep, and imposing. He still couldn't get over the names the Yoshis had for places around their island, but they were cheerful and quaint, much like the child held in the fortress atop the mount. He could almost make out its shape now, a thick, black, ominous structure, but with no fortifications on the outside. Its structure spoke of its own certainty of the traps therein, and Mario made note of this. He would find somewhere secretive to land, and break inside.

The sun had begun to lower ever so slightly, beginning to cast its rays lower and lower, the shadows beginning to stretch longer across the lands and the lake from the mushrooms that escaped destruction. It was still a beautiful land, even amidst this conflict, and one that he and his friends would've found truly enjoyable, had Bowser not came upon it.

He felt the wind whip around him, almost massaging his small wounds, and his hurt for the fallen Yoshi. It was so good to fly again, to feel the joy of freedom in the face of fear.

"When this is all over," Mario said to himself, "I'll bring you up here so you can feel this as well Peach. And you too, little Mathieu."

Determined, Mario flew forward. Whoever that little boy really was, he would rescue him too. He's never let Peach down, and after that yoshi's death, he vowed silently never to let anyone else down either.


End file.
